Thursday, April 13, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 178, Apr 12, 2017

The Golden Division remains the most active unit in west
Mosul. They were still fighting
in Abar and Tank in the center of the front. The police restarted their assault
upon the Old City and received reinforcements
from the Interior Ministry. The attack on the Old City stalled several weeks
ago leading to a change in strategy with the Golden Division pushing up the
middle to try to surround the district, while the police held down the Islamic
State. The Golden Division have not joined the fight in the Old City yet so it
is unclear whether that operation has really renewed or not.

U.S. commander of ground forces against the Islamic State
General Joseph Martin noted
that there the Iraqis are making progress against the Islamic State. Movement
is slow and unsteady, but the Iraqi forces (ISF) are making headway in Mosul.
The general stated that there was no change in air support from the Coalition
since the Jadida incident where over 200 civilians were probably killed by an
airstrike.

The Associated
Press went to Wadi Hajar in west Mosul that was freed at the start of
March. Much of the neighborhood was destroyed. A resident blamed the Islamic
State for taking up positions there attracting air strikes and artillery.
Another man claimed two airstrikes hit a house killing 43 people in February.
Despite it being liberated a month ago there is little aid coming in. There
were a few trucks bringing in supplies but that was it. That meant there were
still food shortages going on just like when IS was in control. The government
has highlighted shops, schools and public offices re-opening in Mosul, but many
sections of the city are bereft of any serious help, and what is going on is
due to the determination of locals rather than aid groups or the authorities.

Crime is on going in Mosul. Yesterday a tire shop in west
Mosul was robbed by men in military uniforms. April
12 an activist and a Federal Police officer reported that people were
looting in areas that the insurgents recently withdrew from along the
frontlines. The police have been arresting people in recent days.

The Nujafis, Vice President Osama and ex-Ninewa governor
Atheel, were still trying to make a comeback in Ninewa. The vice president stated
that the Ninewa Guards would assume security for Mosul after it was freed. That
seems highly unlikely. The Guards originally helped seize some neighborhoods in
the northeast and were then policing them, but rivals of the Nujafis became
jealous and had the security forces expel the Guards and bring up the arrest
warrant that is out for Atheel Nujafi. The city is already being secured by a
mishmash of competing forces. The ISF should have that sole role rather than the
Ninewa Guards or anyone else.

The
National talked with teachers from Mosul. They were forced to work when IS
controlled the city, and had to use textbooks that used military imagery and
terms in the lessons and to teach about Islamic scholars favored by the
militants. Few kids attended schools during that period, and when IS started
charging fees to attend class enrollment went down even more.

The wave of displacement
from the Mosul battle continues to fluctuate. On April 11 around 7,000
displaced (IDPs) reached the Hamam al-Alil screening center. That was up from
5,000 per day the week before. Around 282,000 people have left west Mosul so
far, but the real number is much higher as many people never registered. The
vast majority of people coming out of Mosul said they were fleeing the
fighting. A new camp opened at Hamam al-Alil on April 12 and an extension is
being built to that already since the other camps are either at capacity or
overflowing south of Mosul. People are going back to their homes as well, but
only about 20% of the IDPs since the Mosul campaign started in October have
done so so far. There were many people who stayed within east Mosul during the
battle there that have returned however that were never registered and thus not
part of the official figures.

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com